


Who Could Understand?

by AshesToStars



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Other, implied attempted suicide mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 06:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshesToStars/pseuds/AshesToStars
Summary: Chara and Frisk have spent a long time together figuring out their lives on the surface together. The both of them, despite the journey being mostly over, have some demons they must conquer together.





	Who Could Understand?

A lovely summer's day, with flowers blooming in the garden and a gentle heat sweeping over each blade of grass in the backyard as two now 19-year-olds sat on an old swingset. The swingset in question had initially been built by a pair of lovely skeleton friends...but was highly unstable (though this did not seem to keep them from playing on it), but had at some point been modified by Asgore to be far more safe for the children/young teens to play on. These two had many memories of this swingset now...  
The two in question were Chara and Frisk, both nonbinary brunette darlings that had spent so long on the surface now that the days of the underground seemed so far behind. And yet, on a day of swinging on an old swingset that smelled of golden buttercups had nostalgia crawling on their backs now. Frisk let out a wistful sigh, looking up at the soon to set sun, before turning their head to Chara with a small smile.

"It's a beautiful day." They said softly, voice hanging on merely a whisper, but Chara could hear it. 

"I've seen better." The response was made without any turn to view the other. It was blunt, and almost bitter as they looked at the ground, shoes gently kicking against the dirt. At the words, Frisk let their smile drop into a dull frown. Chara had always been the type to be a little stand-offish towards others...but not usually Frisk. Typically, they were really open with Frisk, in fact! It pained the other to see Chara doing anything that wasn't an indication of joy. Frisk, who had previously been gently swinging, though not going up very high, skid their heels along the ground to come to a total stop. There was a silence that fell between them, that was heavy and hard to carry. Eventually, Frisk at last broke that silence;

"What's wrong?" They asked with a soft concern laced within their docile tone. Chara finally looked over at them...they could sound so much like Toriel when they wanted. Of course Frisk would pick that up from her, while Chara was stuck with dumb pun humor. A sigh tumbled from their lips and they briefly closed their eyes.

"Not a fan of nostalgia, I guess." Chara responded. They knew it was a lame thing to say, but it was the only way to truly describe how they were feeling. "I don't like going back to the past. I don't like thinking about the underground, either when you first came or farther back when I first got down there. I wish my memories only went back as far as a few years ago. I just wind up...stewing in all the bad stuff. Ick."

"Chara..." Frisk muttered, pausing for a moment to consider their words. "I know it's hard for you sometimes. But you shouldn't repress all of your experience...you should relish in the good parts of it." Chara scoffed at the sentence, and rolled their eyes, looking completely away from Frisk now. "No, Chara, I mean it. Think back to things you like, and-"

"WHAT good stuff?!" Chara's sudden outburst made Frisk flinch. They had jumped up from their swing, digging their feet into the ground as they stood up quick enough to make themself dizzy. "There was no good, Frisk! It was all just pain, and confusion, and tears."

"T-That's not true." Frisk calmed down from the startle, their voice still gentle towards the other, contrasting with the emotional explosion Chara had just let out. "There's plenty good to remember...I know, because you've told me them before." Chara looked at Frisk, and their harsh expression softened.

"...I didn't mean to yell."

"That's okay."

"It's just hard, Frisk. And so many of my friends told me it'd get easier...you, Toriel, Asgore, Papyrus, Alphys...Even Asriel!! But it never has. Not since I was a kid, not since the day I got to the underground!" Chara spoke emotionally, but with less anger than before, and Frisk found themself understanding more and more. "They said I'd be okay. That the feelings would go away...but they didn't. I'm 19, almost 20 years old, I live with my best friend and I've gotten everything I thought I could want...and I'm still so...troubled. I'm still dreaming of dark things. I'm still having bad thoughts and urges. I'm still a bad person-"

"You are NOT a bad person." The harsh sincerity of Frisk's voice caught Chara wildly off-guard. "Chara, it's okay to be troubled. Listen...things have gotten better. I know...I know you think they haven't, but they have! Little by little...but you're in a better place than you were then, and I can assure you of that!"

"Frisk, how can you assure me of that? I don't think I've ever been in a 'better place'. Ever!" The response was coupled with a soft waver in their voice. "It's always just been this deep hatred for people, and this even deeper hatred for myself. I can't feel things the way other people do and I hate it. I thought maybe being a monster would change that, but even living a life as if I was one didn't. It's like there's just this emptiness inside me that I've never found a way to fill. Like I'm broken, or something...or like maybe I'm just made of the wrong material. The worst part is that nobody even understands!! I have nobody I can go to that can look me in the eyes and say 'I feel the same way'. I mean, come on! 'Better place'? That's what I was trying to GET to when I jumped from the-" They froze. When had they started crying?? Shit, they didn't remember...but round tears were falling from their eyes as their voice caught in the midst of their sentence. A choking sound came from them, and they didn't even notice when Frisk got up, and walked over to put their hand on their shoulder. Chara took in a deep, shivering breath.

"Chara." 

"...Yes...?" Even though they were speaking to Frisk, Chara didn't actually look at them. That is, until Frisk gently put their hand on Chara's cheek and urged them to look them in the eye.

"I feel the same way." With the repeated words, spoken with such serious honesty, Chara found themselves staring in a silent, frozen state, before tears poured more and they pulled the other into a tight hug.

"I know you do," They whispered. "That's why I love you."


End file.
